Author's Note: So I had some trouble uploading and uploaded the wrong chapter and then I had to upload chapter nine. So I thought to myself why not just post chapter ten now if you already have it up? So thats what I'm doing. This chapter is kind of corny. I didn't realize that till now because I wrote it back in December I believe. But once again, I do not own Harry Potter or the song in this chapter. Jk Rowling owns Harry Potter and U2 owns the song. Dig in, folks!
Chapter Ten
It was the third week of November and it was a Quidditch day. Hermione had never seen Harry so excited before. Pacing back and forth, making sure every lace on his body was double knotted, and pulling his gloves on even further than they would go. Finally he grabbed his broom and smiled at her. "Ready to go?" he asked. It was about an hour before the match even started.
"Harry, are you crazy? We still have a lot more time."
"But I feel really good today. I feel lucky. I can't wait to get out there. Come on, Hermione, please. Ron's probably already practicing." He grabbed Hermione by the hand and they hurried down to the Pitch. She checked her watch once again. The stands were already full.
"So much for being early." Hermione mumbled breaking away from Harry and going to find a seat near Neville perhaps. She sat next to him as he cheered loudly for the Gryffindor players who were flying so fast around the pitch that she could hardly make out who most of them were.
The match had started before she knew it and Harry was speeding around like a lunatic. Ginny was riding off fast against the wind with the quaffle and Ron was protectively swaying back and forth on his broom just in case the quaffle came back.
Hermione fell backwards as the Ravenclaw beater made the bludger go flying towards her. She quickly got up and turned around to apologize to the person she had fallen on. It was just Lavender Brown though who was all giggly and shaky.
Hermione stood up to rearrange her shirt so it wasn't so wrinkly and uncomfortable. Over the stands she saw a man walking over the hills. He seemed confused, but he didn't look bad. "Hermione watch out!" someone screamed from the Slytherin stands. She looked over and saw Pansy pointing. Hermione saw out of the corner of her eye, the quaffle coming straight towards her head.
She ducked and then hurried through the crowd, as the man looked up as if he had recognized the voice or the name. People groaned as she stepped all over them. She ran down the stairs and then behind the Hufflepuff stands to where the man had been standing. She looked around and saw no one. "Oh come on!" Hermione groaned in agony. She ran to the back of the Ravenclaw stands and saw him standing there, looking up and scratching his head. He turned and looked at her.
"Do you know the way up? I have no idea where I am." Hermione smiled.
"Cedric…" she cooed.
"Who in the name of God is Cedric?" he asked bewildered. She walked towards him and turned him to face her. He was the same, the exact same person she remembered.
"You are. You are Cedric Diggory and I am Hermione Granger." He was completely puzzled as she put her hands on his face and then he seemed to remember.
"By God…is it really you?" He put his hands on her cheeks almost violently and then thought. "Are you dead?"
"Of course not, Cedric. You're alive!"
"I am? I am…I can feel your hands again!" He said smiling. "How is this possible? How?" He was laughing and looking around. "I'm at Hogwarts aren't I? And there is Quidditch! Where is everyone? Where is Dumbledore, where is Harry, where is Cho?"
"Cho graduated, Cedric. Harry is playing Quidditch and…Dumbledore…Dumbledore died. Snape…he killed him." Hermione said slowly. Cedric looked at her as if she had just unexpectedly turned into a man.
"Who's the Headmaster?"
"McGonagall, would you like to go see her?" Hermione asked smiling.
"Well of course!" He said. Hermione grabbed his hand and ran towards the staff stands. They ran up the stairs but not before Hermione stopped him and looked into his hazel eyes, the eyes with the green specks. She smiled and kissed him hungrily. He hadn't aged a day it seemed.
"You don't know how much I have missed that Cedric." She told him smiling. He smiled back and then they continued running up the stairs. There were gasps as she ran through the parents and professors. Finally she stood in front of McGonagall who had he binoculars.
"Would you move!" McGonagall said nastily and then took her binoculars away. She nearly fainted at the sight of Cedric. "Cedric Diggory?" She looked at Hermione and then back at him. "Is that you?" Hermione turned and saw that Gryffindor was winning, but the rest of the students weren't paying attention to that. Everyone was practically falling out of the stands trying to make out who the figure Hermione Granger had gone off to find was. Hermione saw that Pansy and Draco were the only patient ones, Draco even looked kind of sad. Pansy was full of joy though.
"Who is that with Hermione Granger in the staff seating?" Luna Lovegood said into her microphone. It blasted through out the stadium. Harry stopped his game for a second to look over and saw the back of a very handsome wizard. He scoffed and continued looking for the Snitch. Finally he spotted it, coming straight at him. He reached out his hand but the Snitch went down and into his shirt. Harry then felt a hard hit to his head and knew he was falling off his broom. He heard screams, especially Hermione's.
He groaned loudly taking out his wand and shot at his falling broom, feeling his back sliding down against one of the hoop bases, the nails and what not tearing his robes and his shirt, making sharp pains in his back. His broom flew towards him and he pushed off the base and hopped onto it; he was just a yard away from the ground and knew the Snitch was dying to get out of his shirt. He reached in and lifted it to the air. The crowd roared with shock.
But Harry got off his broom with tears in his eyes and ran to the locker room. He instantly took off his robes and his shirt, yelling in agony. Madame Pomfrey and Ginny were right behind him. His back was torn up and gushing blood.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pansy covered her mouth and looked at Draco. "Did you see his back? His robes practically ripped in half and you could see all his cuts." Draco nodded solemnly. "Oh Draco cheer up, she wasn't worth your time anyway. She's just Granger. You should go after another Gryffindor to piss her off."
"She won't get pissed off, that's the problem. She's with the person she loves now."
"You don't know that, Draco."
"Yeah…I do." He watched her hanging onto his arm as they walked down to the locker room to see if Harry was alright. She glanced over at them; she saw Draco and then quickly looked away.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Harry! Are you okay?" Hermione's voice echoed in the locker room. Harry didn't look up though. She didn't want to know who was with her. He kept his face against the bench and sucked in air through his clenched teeth making a loud kind of scratchy noise as Pomfrey dabbed a warm cloth on his back.
"Just peachy!" Harry said trying to sound happy. He saw feet below his face and decided to look up. He practically fell off the bench when he laid eyes on Cedric Diggory again.
"Wha- where did you come from?" Pomfrey turned around and gasped. She stood up and pressed her hand to her heart.
"Cedric Diggory? Is that really you?" She asked touching his face.
Ron came in with the rest of the team smiling and laughing. "Harry, how bad is it?" He asked standing next to Cedric. "That's pretty-" Ron looked spooked to see Cedric.
"Are you a ghost?" Ron asked.
"No…are you?" Cedric asked.
"I'm not so sure anymore…I thought you were…dead."
"Me too, apparently not though."
"Cedric Diggory, well…" Ron smiled and shook Cedric's hand and then brought him into a violent hug. Cedric smirked. Harry gave Hermione a questioning eye and then Pansy and Draco walked in, not surprised at all. There wasn't a bit of shock in their expressions. Harry thought they would be excited for Hermione considering they had become extremely close over the past few months. But they seemed perfectly calm.
"Have you contacted your dad yet?" Ron asked pulling away. Harry watched them talk and everything seemed to blur in slow motion. Harry looked at Hermione and she looked as if she were about to cry. He thought about how her father hit her and if he would approve of Cedric. If she would even tell Cedric about her father. If Cedric would go crazy and hurt him. He then remembered seeing Cedric die; just like that he was gone. And now, just like that…he was back.
He wondered if it was a miracle, or had somebody brought him back. It was awfully odd that Hermione had been just mentioned him a few weeks ago and now he was back.
Hermione held onto Cedric tightly and he turned to look at her. He looked at her differently though. His eyes used to be hungry for her, but now they had more of a passion for her. It made her break out in chills. "Cedric…do you remember how to play the piano?"
"Of course I do." He said nodding.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sight of seeing Cedric's hands move so quickly along the keys and hearing the noise of them made Hermione's body burst with chills. They were in Annie's classroom because she just happened to have enough room for a grand piano. Annie and Jane watched along with the 7th years. Hermione sat with him though.
He had played this for her once and there were even words to go with it, so she memorized them of course.
I want to run,
I want hide,
I want to tear down the walls
That hold me inside.
I want to reach out and
Touch the flame
Where the streets have no name.
She sang the words in a whisper for only Cedric to hear. He smiled and kept playing as more of the professors stepped in. Hermione got a little louder.
I want to feel sunlight on my face
I see that dust cloud disappear without a trace
I want to take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name
Hermione caught a glance of Draco sitting on a table staring at her and only her. She thought it slightly weird but kept singing, getting louder.
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We're still building
Then burning down love, burning down love
And when I go there
I go there with you...
It's all I can do
Hermione was in a full singing mode, feeling the chills down her spine multiply along her back and arms.
The city's a flood
And our love turns to rust
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled in dust
I'll show you a place
High on a desert plain
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We're still building
Then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there
I go there with you
It's all I can do
Our love turns to rust
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Blown by the wind
Oh, and I see love
See our love turn to rust
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Blown by the wind
Oh, when I go there
I go there with you
It's all I can do
Cedric finished the song louder than it had started and even with tears in his eyes. Hermione turned to him as he finished, swinging one leg over the other side of the bench and moving towards him. She placed her arms around his neck and her head against his looking at the keys. She felt a tear on her skin and for once it was not hers.